Creamy Peppadew pasta with watercress and pine nuts

Helloooo, creamy pasta! Was there ever a more beautiful sight? Red roses and sunsets have nothing on a plate of pasta coated in a glossy, creamy sauce. Even better, a sauce that’s packed with garlic, spicy Peppadew peppers and parsley. This creamy Peppadew pasta may well be the best thing on Earth (apart from cute puppies).

As with any good pasta dish, this recipe is super quick – the sauce comes together in the time it takes to say ‘hey look, I made sauce!’ (assuming you speak fairly slowly).

Just add some garlic and those sweet and spicy Peppadews to a mini food processor, along with a few sprigs of fresh parsley, and give it a good blitz. Add some cream cheese and a little dollop of Greek yogurt, and there’s your sauce! This time I used the hot Peppadews – with the creamy sauce to cool them down, it was just perfect. Feel free to use the milder Peppadews though, if you prefer.

I also added a handful of watercress and some pine nuts to my creamy Peppadew pasta. You could use spinach or rocket (arugula) too, or whatever else you happen to have on hand – I’m all for a good fridge clearing dinner. The pine nuts add a nice bit of crunch, but also have a surprising amount of flavour, so don’t skip them!

Overall, this recipe offers everything you could ever want in a pasta dish – spiciness, sweetness, creaminess, tanginess, crunch… I could go on. The fact that it only takes about 15 minutes to make is just the icing on the pasta.

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5 from 1 vote

Creamy Peppadew pasta with watercress and pine nuts

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Servings: 3

Ingredients

• 300 g pasta (~ 10 1/2 oz) - I used farfalle
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• pieces ~ 7 hot Peppadew piquante peppers
• A few sprigs fresh parsley
• 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 1 tbsp Greek yogurt
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 handful fresh watercress
• 3 tbsp pine nuts

Instructions

• Boil the pasta in plenty of water until cooked al dente (around 12-15 minutes).
• Meanwhile, add the peeled garlic clove to a mini food processor, along with the Peppadews and fresh parsley. Blitz until roughly chopped.
• Add the lemon juice, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Blitz again to produce a fairly smooth sauce (a few lumps are okay!).
• When the pasta is cooked, drain it, and add the sauce, the watercress, and the pine nuts. Mix well to combine. Place over a low heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly, to heat through, then serve.

Course: Main meal

Author: Becca Heyes

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose.

If you love Peppadews, you have to try them on pizza! They’re so good on my spicy butternut squash pizza with crispy kale: